Promise of a Lifetime
by Steffx621
Summary: "Like a perfect scene from a movie screen we're a dream come true; suited perfectly for eternity...Me and you."  He was just another boy in her classroom; she was always so much more than that. He simply loved the way she smiled.  One-Shot of "What ifs?


**Summary : **"Like a perfect scene from a movie screen we're a dream come true; suited perfectly for eternity...Me and you."

He was just another boy in her classroom; she was always so much more than that. He simply loved the way she smiled. ~One-Shot of "What ifs?" AU

**Author's**** Note : **So this is what happens when I started posting a story and people's love drove me to write something more lol… I've always wanted to write a story like this, you know? Playing with LP as kids, and make them come to a happy ending in my own way and terms...Pretty awesome I must say. I'm re-writing history with this but it is still LP so I hope you like it.

This is my first one-shot so let me know how I did it. I kinda...well, I did got a little carried away but still… Hope you like it **;)**

**Promise of a Lifetime**

* * *

_It was no accident me finding you.  
__Someone had a hand in it.  
__Long before we even knew._

It started with a smile. A rather polite little smile he was well aware was fake.

She was having a bad day. A really crappy day, and for a reason he could never really understand, he was dying inside to make it all okay for her.

They were together since grade school. Or well, not really '_together_', but at least in the same class. She was one of the '_pretty girls'_ although she didn't often act like them.

They have never really spoke until that day in fourth period English. Until that day he was sure she thought he had the cooties. He had always thought she was nice though. She _seemed_ nice at least. She always used to be with a perky brunette attach at her hip. They would laugh _a lot_, and for some reason he liked seeing her when she laugh.

It always made him want to laugh as well. It was just catchy.

Then again, she was also his brother's friend. Maybe that's why she never really spoke to him.

He knew at least that was the reason he never spoke to her. But really? Even if she wasn't Nathan's friend, what was he supposed to tell her? That she was '_nice_', even though he really didn't know her? Or maybe tell her just how much he liked her laughter? That would probably make him sound '_creepy_'.

He didn't want that. He'd rather her thinking he was just '_another_' boy in her class, rather than a '_creepy stalker'_ who couldn't help but stare at her every time that she laughed.

He had a best friend; just as she did. But unlike hers, his knew everything about her. Haley had caught him staring at her lost in the deepest of thoughts one afternoon by the library. Her parents were late picking her up from school so the teachers made her sit by the library where Lucas and Haley were doing homework until his Uncle Keith came and picked them both up later.

Peyton didn't seem all that sad back then though. She kept looking at everything and everyone who were at the library. She even looked at him for a split second one time, but he knew he was just another shape she happened to see.

She still had gotten bored rather fast. One moment she was bouncing her feet up and down in her chair, and the other she was already standing up decisively, and walking towards Miss Gordon.

Lucas always thought she was a nice teacher. Her Spanish classes were always kind of fun so he liked her. Of course, he only liked her as much as a second grader could like his teacher, but still.

However, that changed that afternoon. Miss Gorgon made Peyton cry.

Lucas didn't understand why, but when he saw her crying all he could think was in how mad he was at his teacher for make that blonde's tears fall down from her eyes. She'd made her green eyes, and her cheeks, and especially the tip of her nose to go all red in just a matter of seconds.

Miss Gordon carried her out of the library in her arms as she kept crying. Lucas didn't saw her after that day for weeks. Most of their class didn't know why she was skipping school, and of course, Lucas knew better than to ask his brother, or even her brunette best friend about her.

So he didn't.

He had only hoped she was okay. She had crossed his mind that night as he tried to drift off to sleep. She didn't go away after that; he simply couldn't stop thinking in those sad tears that stained her cheeks that fall afternoon.

He didn't understand why, but he had hated, more than anything else had, seeing those awful little drops falling to her face.

She came back to school a few weeks later. Like two days after winter break was over. It was one heck of a cold day the day she came back. She was dressed in a huge pink coat for some reason. He never thought about it before, but he actually had never really seen her wearing pink before that day. She didn't seem to like it though, and he could tell that much.

She hadn't made her way completely into the classroom when her big coat was already hanging at the furthest corner of their classroom.

In any case, although he was a '_little_' happy she was back; she seemed different. Lucas still thought she was a nice girl, but she just didn't seem as the same pretty girl he used to _'know'_.

She wouldn't laugh anymore.

He had actually hated how sad she seemed now. She was quiet for most part of the time, and only talked when the teachers asked her something, or when Brooke would make her say anything.

Sometimes not even then, and Lucas hated that.

He didn't quite understand the feeling. Before that girl he knew he only '_hated_' three things; the man that all too often made his mom sad, that same man's son, and...well, of course green veggies.

Now that had changed. Now that was different and he couldn't explain it. He actually _hated_ seeing Peyton Sawyer sad.

_I've seen the storm clouds in your past  
But rest assured 'cause you are safe at home at last_

He had joked about her last name the first time they talked to each other. He had regretted his own words, his own dorkiness, but she had still smiled at him. He had enjoyed that little crooked smile almost as much as he enjoyed when his basketball would go down the hoop without any trouble.

They were supposed to make an English workshop together. Mister Wyatt had told them so. He'd made teams of one girl and one boy each.

Lucas of course thought he'd gotten the best girl, but no one beside him was supposed to know that.

Especially not her.

Still, Mister Wyatt wasn't a very nice teacher; he knew about books, and that was kind of awesome, but he still didn't seem to care Peyton was sad, so Lucas simply stopped liking him that day too.

After they had put their desks together in order to make the workshop, one of her color pencils had rolled down her desk; it was the purple one, she had gasped, and Lucas had immediately rushed off his chair and picked it up for her.

She had said "_Thank you_" softly looking down at his hands as he handed her back the pencil.

Already with the pencil in her hands, she looked up at his eyes, and at last offered him that broken little smile. It managed to make him sad a little at first, but he still smiled back at her and told her a rather fast "No problem."

It really was no problem after all. His mom had taught him to be a gentleman, and that was what a gentlemen did. All in all, it was just a pencil, and she was a pretty girl –_the prettiest girl if he could say so himself_– so it really wasn't a problem.

He then focused back in the paper they were supposed to do together. He knew very well her name, _both_ her names, _plus_ her middle name actually, but he had still asked.

"Peyton...?" He trailed off holding his pencil up just a bit over the piece of paper. He tilted his head so that she could look at his eyes as he waited for her to respond.

It took her a good moment to reply, it actually took her some well few seconds to even look at him properly, but she did so. After offering him yet another sad smile, she'd say "Sawyer."

He'd smiled back in her direction, and then wrote down her last name beside her first name. After he wrote his own name next to hers he couldn't help but wonder how it'd look if instead of '_Sawyer_', he wrote '_Scott'_ beside hers.

Both were '_S_' names, so her initials wouldn't change. Maybe one day he'd tell her that and maybe one day she'd also like his name after hers.

Who knows?

A moment later, without really a warning he had let a chuckle escape his throat. He saw her eyes narrowing curiously, and he could only look up at her with a sheepish smile gracing on his face. "You are not making me pay you for helping me finish this? Are you?" He asked goofily, gesturing her to the still empty workshop.

He'd always thought '_Tom Sawyer'_ was cool; he was smart and witty, but in any case, Lucas refused decisively to play Huckleberry Finn this evening.

Not even with _'Peyton Sawyer'_.

Yet, she didn't exactly reply to his comment.

At his words, she then simply...laughed.

_I rescued you; you rescued me.  
And we're right where we should be when we're together._

Although her giggling lasted rather little, Lucas was positive after it stopped that he had never heard before such nice sound.

Not even all his cool music could compare. It was simply the nicest of sounds.

A few days later, he found out what had happened to her.

Her mother had died.

She actually had, and Lucas couldn't help but wince when his own mother told him that. She had learned what happened to the Sawyer family in one PTA meeting.

She had asked him if he knew Peyton, he'd said '_yes_' with a goofy smirk on his face.

Of course he did. She was Peyton Sawyer for heaven's sake!

In any case, his mom didn't seem to be all amused by him, she then told him about the girl's mother, and how he _had_ to be nice to her. That she probably needed good friends more than ever now.

His smirk faded as fast as he could sink in the information. His world was rather little, he had his mom, he had his Uncle Keith, and he had his best friend; that was all of it.

He didn't know for sure, but he imagined Peyton's world was a lot like his, with the small difference that she had a dad instead of an uncle, but for Lucas that was still pretty much the same.

He then had started thinking in how would it be if his own mom happened to die, his eyes actually filled with tears at the thought alone, and he felt utterly silly, but that still didn't stop that weird ache his heart was feeling.

Just then it hit him just how very bad that curly blonde must have been feeling all these time.

His mom had told him that Peyton would probably need good friends by her side. That he supposedly needed to be good to her, but...it wasn't as if he didn't want to be, he did, he genuinely wanted more than ever now see her little smile one more time, but how was he supposed to be nice with her when they weren't even friends.

When they didn't even talk?

Anyway, he'd had an idea; his mom would always give him some very, _very_ special snickerdoodles when he was sad. Lucas was never sure how, but they surely always made him feel better.

He'd thought about it a lot, but then he came to the conclusion that it is not exactly stealing when you are trying to do what your mom told you to do, right?

If you ask him he would never admit it, but every Tuesday morning Peyton Sawyer would find a small box with seven snickerdoodles Lucas would have 'borrowed' from his mom's café the day before.

The first week she kind of ignored the box all day long. It was placed above her desk all day, and Lucas saw sadly as she simply pretended it wasn't there the whole time.

The next week he was smarter though – or so he thought he was. He put a little note over the box with her name written on it. She'd ignored the box all day long one more time, but at the end of the day, when everybody was out of the classroom already, he saw her running back into the room and running back out a few moments later with the box perched in her arms.

He'd smiled, and from that week on until the end of the school year he gave her a box with seven...well, at first where only snickerdoodles, but after a few weeks he'd thought she may get bored of the same taste all weeks, so then he started giving her all kind of cookies – that way his mom wouldn't be all that suspicious either.

She almost caught him the Tuesday he decided to give her chocolate-chip-cookies. She'd arrived the classroom awfully early and he had certainly panicked.

Of course just a little though. It was a good think 'Snoopy', their classroom pet-rabbit '_happened_' to be hungry, and Lucas '_happened_' to be eager in feeding him. As she entered the classroom quietly he could feel his cheeks getting warm, he couldn't believe a girl, a girl smaller than him had actually made him blush, but he had and it felt rather embarrassing.

However, his back was to her so _hopefully_ she didn't get to see the funny pink that graced his face.

That morning Peyton actually opened the box right away, it was as though she was looking forward to it and Lucas felt happy about the fact. He'd said a cheekily '_Hi_' as he walked past her in her desk. He only did it because he had to though; it was only the polite thing to do in the end since they were the only two in the classroom still.

She didn't respond –Lucas was actually getting used to that, she would always think for quite a little while to reply, and in the end she wouldn't even respond the question he asked but ask something else back, or simply smile...not that he was complaining though. Never.

She then narrowed her eyes just slightly looking up at Lucas. She stared at him for a little while before speaking softly. "They have chocolate-chips," She had noted and Lucas had nodded, seeing her smiling just as she then quietly told him those were her favorites.

Lucas had then smiled too, and since that day, every other week chocolate-chip-cookies he would give her.

Those were his favorites too.

_Now I just can't believe you're in my life  
Heaven's smiling down on me  
As I look at you tonight _

They never really talked all that much as the time passed, although Lucas would never miss the chance of looking at her from afar when no one was around.

His blood would still boil when she was with Nathan. He rather hated that for some reason. He really wasn't a good guy, he would actually be mean with some girls sometimes, but in any way, he and Peyton were together more often than not.

Not that it really mattered but he was okay when she hang out with Brooke; she sure as hell seemed to be a little crazy, but she would still make Peyton smile, and by then Lucas knew already he _loved_ that.

They were twelve –actually, _he_ was twelve, she was still eleven that summer– when he caught her walking by herself by the beach. That was one of his favorite places ever, he loved to walk up and down the beach and simply forget for that little while the world that was outside that big ocean boundaries.

She was in a small purple summer dress when he saw her. He hadn't notice before until that day but that girl's legs were fairly thin! He was sure his eyes must have gone wide as he saw her, but he didn't care.

Have you ever seen when chickens start running like crazy when someone is chasing them? Lucas was so sure Peyton's legs would look a whole lot like the chicken's ones if she happened to start running.

He'd liked them though. They were _super_ long, and he simply knew then he had found yet another spot on her body –_Other than her beautiful eyes of course_– that he loved to stare.

It was almost six o'clock when he caught sight of his watch, and realized she was still wandering the beach.

Took him a lot of courage, and even more time fighting with his own self debating whether it was or not a good idea to go and talk to her.

He'd taken the chance anyway. The way he saw it, _she_ was worth the risk.

She was '_Peyton Sawyer'_ after all.

"Do you want me to take you home?" He had asked taking her by surprise. He blushed embarrassed just a bit when she jumped at his voice, but then smiled in his direction.

"It's nice in here," Peyton had said shifting her eyes from his and back to the sunset before them.

Lucas nodded slowly, sitting right beside her in the sand. Silence settled between the two until she spoke softly again.

"Brooke's out of town with her parents,"

It was not as if she wanted to give him any explanations, she didn't even know him, she just figured that was why he'd come all the way to her. Even for her was the weariest of things not have Brooke attach to herself.

At her words, Lucas had had the best of guesses about what was going on in her head. She was lonely. That was what he could hear in her voice. He felt bad for her for a few seconds before realizing that she wasn't alone anymore.

_He_ was with her. That feeling felt good for some reason.

"What about your dad?" Lucas asked, not wanting to sound too nosey, but maybe he was worried about her.

It has been over three hours he'd been seeing her in the end.

In any case, Peyton didn't respond right away. She pursed her lips uneasily looking as the waves crashed in the distance.

"He's out of town too," She said simply, but her words were enough reason for Lucas to worry.

"You are all alone?" He asked worriedly, turning his face so that he was looking firmly at her. "Nobody's staying with you?"

At those words, she had chuckled.

She honestly had.

As she turned her face to look at his eyes, that was when she had _seen_ him for the first time.

He was squinting really funny, and seemed genuinely concerned about her.

That was a weird feeling. A feeling she hardly ever felt anymore but that in any case she had liked.

It felt different coming from him, a boy she hardly ever spoke with, but...It felt nice.

"My grandma is at home," She told him with a smile as she saw how her words put him at ease.

"Oh," He had let out thoughtfully and she had chuckled one more time. He joined her for a few seconds before his eyes caught sight of that hint of sorrow in her eyes.

It made him sad. Those eyes were _so_ beautiful, yet that sadness broke his heart.

"I can walk you home if you want me too. I bet she's worried, you'd been here since forever ago," He told her honestly not really caring to think just what he was confessing.

One way or the other he had let her know how he had been seeing her all evening. He couldn't find it in himself to care anyway; it was getting dark, and even though it was summer, night could well be cold and her dress was in fact fairly little.

He didn't want her to get chilly.

"I won't talk," He called again upon her silence. She was smiling when she turned and looked at his face.

She then had nodded.

He then had smiled too. Of course he did.

_Everything in this world, all that I'll ever need  
Is in your eyes, shining at me  
When you smile I can feel all my passion unfolding_

The small walk to her house was rather quiet, he would throw comments here and there, and she would actually chuckle at_ some_ of them.

Not all of them, certainly the girl could glare but she would still smile more and he was loving it.

He told her about the storm that hit their little town a few weeks ago; he'd told her how he had been trapped in a very, _very_ different kind of '_hotel_' with his uncle. She'd laughed when he told her how the girls he saw were dressed.

He liked being with her. She wasn't like all the other girls he knew. Well, all the other girls sans Haley. She definitely wasn't like the others, yet nothing like Peyton either. Most of them were rather smoochy and only talked about them; how they look, and how boys like him weren't exactly what they wanted. They would sometimes tell him how he _needed_ to be more '_cool'._

That didn't matter now anyway, he certainly felt cool enough with Peyton Sawyer.

Who knew, right? He wasn't one of the boys; he would more often than not get into fights with the '_cool guys'_ but she certainly made him forget about all the others. It was simply them, the two of them walking beside each other in their hometown paths.

He felt lucky by the fact of walking with her, he couldn't really explain it since besides Haley he couldn't think of any other girl he would like to spend his time with, yet, with Peyton he was longing for that little walk to last forever.

Even if they didn't speak any other word.

He simply liked feeling her on his side.

"Are you sure she's inside?" Lucas asked cautiously as they reached her home and he saw all the lights were off.

Peyton looked over at her house and then back at Lucas. "Yeah, she goes early to bed I guess," She explained rather casually, but now her voice was carrying that same hint of sadness her eyes did.

They stood by the porch for some good minutes, he was awkwardly standing, his hand in his pockets, and he would bounced on his spot at the sudden silence that had settled between him and the petite blonde. He thought that maybe she was silently waiting for him to say goodbye and go, but he couldn't leave her in the porch, could he? He needed her to be safe and sound before he left so he simply stood in silence until she felt like talking again.

She looked a little restless though. She would look over at the dark window of her house, then the floor, then her hands, rarely at Lucas, and then back at the house.

"You don't wanna come in, do you?" Lucas asked taking a chance. In all honesty, the silence was just becoming a little too much for him to handle.

He saw as she twisted her lips in that exact same way she'd been doing all evening, but…it was still rather cute.

"Not really," She whispered looking down at her feet. After a beat, she looked up at his eyes and with no more words started walking to the back of the house.

Lucas remained frozen, literally frozen, he saw as her chickeny legs moved, but he couldn't move his for the life of him.

"You coming?" She asked turning around with the goofiest of smirks on her face. He was positive he'd never seen before such adorable, yet annoying smirk on someone's face, but that in any case, it snapped him out of his daze. He chuckled and without saying a word walked rapidly after her.

She sat down in the small swing by the back door; she pulled her legs up and hugged them tightly looking up at him over her knees. He hesitated; of course he did, but then shrugged off whatever insecurities that were in his mind. Something about just being with that girl gave him all the courage he never knew he could have.

He sat down beside her and looked over at the small playground before them. It seemed old, as if no one had really played on it in a very long time. In any case he had to stop and think in how she was eleven, maybe she was a little too old for swings, and slides…It was a bit sad, and maybe pathetic but he actually liked at times when Haley '_forced_' him to play in the swings. It felt nice to lift yourself off the ground, and pretend you could fly.

It made him sad Peyton didn't feel that anymore.

"I hate when people asks me how I am," Lucas noted not really looking at her but coming up with the one comment that was crossing his mind. He wanted to ask her if she was okay, she certainly didn't seem all that okay, but he also knew just how much he hated when people asked him that cliché question expecting him just to tell them '_yes__ or __no'_ even when the answer most of the times was obvious.

_I see the questions in your eyes  
I know what's weighing on your mind  
But you can be sure I know my part_

Peyton's face was down, and her cheeks were slightly flushed, she had probably cry early that day. Her voice was always small as if she was afraid to be too loud and the world would hear her, he knew she was afraid of something deep inside in her heart. She had '_asked_' him to come with her even though they really didn't know each other, he knew she was lonely and needed someone to talk.

_I'll stand beside you through the years_

Lucas knew all that with only looking at her. She wasn't fine, asking the question would be just dumb so he didn't ask it; instead, he shared his thought with her.

Maybe she'd agree with him.

"Okay," She replied cautiously biting playfully on her lower lip. It seemed as if should hurt giving how strong it seemed she was biting it, but she didn't seem to be bothered at all.

Behind her features he could dare to say he was seeing a small smile tugging.

"I don't think you are okay," Lucas blurted out sincerely, and almost laughed at the way her eyes widened.

"You don't know me," Peyton let out after just a few seconds of staring incredulously into his eyes.

"Maybe so," He retorted fighting back the grin that wanted so bad to come out. It made him glad in a way, in only a few seconds he had managed to pull her out a little from her shell, she was looking at him as if taunting him with her eyes. He actually liked that. "But I've always been good reading people," He said rather cockily, and smiled when Peyton finally cracked a smile at his words.

"My mom always say so," He added nonchalantly and she scoffed.

"Your mom?" She asked, raising playfully both her eyebrows.

Okay, probably that hadn't been the best use of words, but they were still talking, and he was loving the feeling.

Just when he was about to reply her smile faded just a bit and her mischievous stare changed for a thoughtful one. "You get along with her?" She asked softly, and twisting her lips to the side a little.

"Mom?" Lucas asked feeling a little uncomfortable. If it was true it had been almost four years since Peyton mom had died, he still knew that wasn't something you just get over.

He was sure she still missed her mom badly, and the fact that he, unconsciously but still, had brought the moms subject to the table made him mad a little at himself.

He honestly just wanted to see her smile.

Peyton nodded solemnly and he matched her motion before replying. "We do, I guess...She's a girl, you know?" He asked hopeful trying with all his might not to make her sad. If any other person would have asked him he would have say Karen was the best mom ever, but he knew he couldn't say those words in front of her.

It wasn't as if he was lying to her, he was simply...protecting her.

Lucas sighed with relief when she giggled at his response. "So what if she's a girl?" She asked him playfully. "I'm a girl too," She added tilting her head curiously to one side.

"Yeah, you are," Lucas granted rather painfully. She rolled her eyes so he decided to elaborate just a bit. "But you are different," He said shrugging his shoulders.

Peyton's eyes narrowed as she stared thoughtfully at this boy before her. She'd never known a boy like him, she of course knew boys, she actually even knew nice boys, yet Lucas here was different. He seemed sincere and the way he spoke to her wasn't at all the same way all the other boys spoke to her.

She'd liked talking to him; that was the main difference between him and the rest of boys. Even if most part of their conversation had been teasing thrown from side to side, she'd enjoyed it, and if she could say so, so had him.

He'd smiled more than he had squinted, that got to mean something, right?

"How come different?" She asked cautiously but in a way, it felt for Lucas as if she was daring him.

"Oh, but in a good way," He called up before he actually respond her question, he didn't want her to think he thought of her a 'freak' or whatever. She was different, yes, but in an awesome way.

"Okay," She said with a giggle that surely landed in his heart.

_I know you've heard that worn out line about love at first sight  
Well I never knew those words were true until you walked in tonight_

Pulling himself together, he sent a smile back in her direction. "I'm actually not sure," He said honestly.

_All it took was just one look to knock me off my feet  
I'm not a man of many words so I'll make this short and sweet _

"I just...Talking to you is easy," He said simply finally finding the words he had been searching for.

That was actually the truth. With the other girls, and even with some boys too, he had to pretend in order to '_blend_', in order to be cooler than he supposedly is, but with Peyton it was different. He felt as though he could be himself, and say whatever that was in him mind and she wasn't going to judge him.

He felt as if she could understand him in ways he couldn't even understand himself.

It felt crazy, he'd never felt that way before, and if he was being honest to himself, the feeling was in fact a little scary, but for some reason, scary didn't seem so scary tonight.

She stared at him for a few more seconds before she smiled sincerely, and nodded a little her head. "Well, you're also kinda easy to talk to," She said back with a small shrug of her shoulders.

Lucas nodded calmly but inwardly was actually celebrating big time. He was afraid to feel too much, or to move too much, what if he was just dreaming? What if he happened to wake up alone in his bed with no Peyton, and no little smiles?

Shaking his head slowly he shook those thoughts away and focused in the curly blonde before his eyes. In fact, her curls were rather messy today, maybe it had been the summer breeze, but in any case, he didn't remember seeing them so crazy back in school as they seemed now.

"Your grandma is not inside, is she?" Lucas asked awkwardly after a few seconds.

Peyton sighed and looked away from his eyes. "I told her I was going to be okay, and that my dad was coming back tonight..." She confessed all so softly, looking at everything but his eyes.

How could he possibly know she had lied?

"And he's not?" Lucas asked already knowing the answer but he still wanted her to say the words.

He didn't understand why when he'd asked the question, but he just needed her to be honest.

"Nope," Peyton replied shaking her head a bit as she turned back to look at his eyes. "It's getting dark," She noted uneasily. "Maybe you should go home...Bet your mom must be worried," She said with the saddest of smiles that did nothing but break his heart in little pieces.

He'd give anything for all and every of her smiles to be full of happiness and not sadness.

_I'll stand beside you through the years  
You'll only cry those happy tears  
And though I'll make mistakes  
I'll never break your heart_

"You should come then," Lucas said seriously totally catching her off guard.

"What?" Peyton asked back narrowing slightly her eyes.

"Come to dinner with me and my mom, oh...and probably Haley too, but that's okay," He said nodding strongly as he stood up from the swing. "My mom likes to cook for other people, that's kinda...her thing," He said rolling his eyes, and she chuckled just a bit. "She loves to do it, I bet she'll like if I bring you over," He offered simply with the tenders of smiles.

"Wanna come?" He asked one more time at her silence.

She was thinking about it. She actually was and he couldn't be more glad.

Peyton Sawyer was actually thinking about going out with him, what else could he ask for?

Well, actually he could well ask for one more thing, that she'd say _yes_!

"Are you sure?" She asked a few seconds later. The uncertainty her voice was carrying literally killed him, why would she even doubt it? He'd be honored if she come with him...it's a not a date officially of course, but...it's something, and he'll enjoy it just as much.

"Of course I am," Lucas said decisively, already attempting to pull her up of the wing. "Let's go Miss Sawyer," He said playfully pushing her out of her backyard. He didn't have an idea where the heck that boldness was coming from, especially since he was talking with no just any girl but Peyton, but he still was sure he hadn't felt as confident of himself in any other moment before.

_Like a perfect scene from a movie screen  
We're a dream come true  
Suited perfectly for eternity  
Me and you_

He knew he loved her sometime when they were fifteen. Who falls in love at fifteen, right? Well, that had been his one and only true. Sometimes he would think he loved her since before, most of the times he liked to think that, but...He still wasn't sure until he'd asked his Uncle Keith how could he possibly know what it was like to be in love. He'd told him that he couldn't answer that question; that the moment he found love, the one and only, the one that would complete him, and make him happier than anything else would, that that day he would just know it.

That his heart would know it.

He said he couldn't tell him what love was, that actually nobody knew, and that if that when the moment came and he could put into words what love was, that he might as well come and tell him.

Lucas had smiled and nodded, at that moment he realized he could actually put into words what love was.

It was Peyton.

By that time, they had only been officially dating for a few months. Both of them had grown more as friends after that night at his mom's café. Karen had taken Peyton in just like a daughter; they spend a lot of time together, and Lucas simply loved it.

His mom was just as protective over her as he was.

He loved that Peyton would always come up with the craziest of thoughts about pretty much every topic. She would love to spend afternoons at the time '_teaching_' him all about the '_right'_ music he _should_ listen to.

She was _so_ passionate about everything that excited her. That was probably the thing he loved about her the most. She would put all her heart and soul in whatever little thing that she thought was worth it. It could well be something as big and important as help his mom create the coolest of bars in town (that of course if he could say so himself. It was the truth anyway), or simply everything she put into one of her drawings.

She was talented, and beautiful, and smart, and caring, and prideful too, but also noble, and witty; she was this endless list of things he knew he loved even when he was hardly fifteen.

_And I could list a million things I love to like about you.  
But they all come down to one reason; I could never live without you._

He didn't say the words although he felt them inside for a very long time. In a way, it still didn't matter all that much. You can call him naïve, or foolish, but he knew she loved him back just as much as he loved her even when neither of them had said the words quite yet.

It was still as his Uncle Keith had put it, if love was so hard to put into words, voice it truthfully must be just as hard.

Even harder.

Everybody can say '_I__ love __you'_, but not everybody can really love.

He loved that girl and there weren't simply words enough to make her understand how much, so he settled in actions. In showing her his love instead of say the words as any other boy would.

_Every day I live,  
__I'll__ try my best to give all I have to you.  
Thank the stars above that we share this love..._

_Me and you_

Things with him were rather easy for her. It was sometime as if he had a gift, he would say just the right things at the precise time she needed to hear them.

That night he took her for dinner at his mom's café he'd given her so much more than just a meal; one way or the other, he gave her a family. That evening he had opened not only the doors of his family, but also the doors to his heart and she couldn't find in herself a reason why.

She was a stranger to him at the time, she was a stranger in the cutest of '_summer__ purple __dresses_' as he'd put it once. But despite his words, and the dress, and whatever else he could say, she was still that, a stranger who in a matter of weeks became family, and in her was to let him know everyday just how much that had meant to her back then, and it would still mean until she was done with this world.

He'd help her see things in herself she hadn't seen before he came along. He showed her how she could trust in herself just the same way he trusted in her blindly.

For some people that would sound as this big commitment they are, more often than not, not ready to take, but for her that was different. His faith in her gave her that courage to make the things she never thought she could, but that with him by her side seemed just...easy.

_Ordinary no... really don't think so.  
Not a love this true. Common destiny  
We were meant to be  
Me and you_

The day of her sixteen birthday, she had known she loved him. He didn't call, and she hadn't seen him since the morning before that day. They had been dating for almost nine whole months, by that time she almost lived with him and his mom at their place. Her dad was most part of the year out in jobs, and Lucas, and his mom for some reason too, hated for her to stay all alone in that big house so they would invite her over for daily '_sleepovers_'. When she stayed at their house she'd sleep in Lucas' bedroom, but still, for some reason she never understood he would have ready a '_backup bed'_ he would settle in the floor and sleep there. She somewhat hated it, for her that was the dumbest of things, but he still would do it.

She would argue, and eventually join him in the floor but he still would not go up in the bed with her.

It was still okay, he was still by her side, and that was what mattered most.

However, the day of her sixteen birthday dawned and he was nowhere to be seen. Brooke and Haley had ambushed her at her house a little past eight o'clock in the morning. They'd dragged her out of her PJs and out of the house for a big pancakes breakfast, and later on for some _'fun'_ birthday shopping.

She'd been rather grumpy throughout the whole morning, she loved her friends, of course she did, but there was still someone she needed more, and he wasn't there.

It had took quite a while for Haley to actually trust her with her best friend, she had been fairly cautious, but in the end she had, and it had been just a matter of time before Haley became one of them, or actually, before she and Brooke became one the '_others_'...Haley and Lucas of course.

Peyton loved, from the distance most of the time, but genuinely did regardless, Lucas and Nathan's relationship. She saw them growing from sheer hate to actual love, and brotherhood. She simply loved the way both boys' eyes would light up when they played together '_their game'_.

It was nice the way little by little, because of one dinner, they had all created a pretty decent little family.

In any way, he wasn't there that day she wanted him most. Brooke and Haley had left her alone to '_rest_' in her room before her so-called party later that evening. She'd been more than reluctant to celebrate her birthday as any other sixteen-year-old would, but Lucas had insisted in how she '_deserved_' a day with all the people who loved her.

Yet, there she was all alone.

All three girls got ready at Peyton's house, she'd picked a strapless dark green dress she actually liked. For some reason Brooke hadn't been all that thrilled about it; Maybe she'd wanted her to go in a puffy pink dress or something, who knew? She still did tell her she looked beautiful after they were done getting ready.

In spite of everything, Peyton had gone in green and she'd had liked it. She walked down the halls of TRIC maybe a little too annoyed, but in the end however, faking more than one smile to all the guests she didn't even know.

After just a few seconds filled with sideway hugs, and congratulations sang into her ear she'd seen him at last. She made an effort not to lose it but she couldn't help but be genuinely happy he was there. She greeted him with both her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She smiled despite herself when she started hearing him wishing her 'Happy Birthday' into her hair. She'd wanted to be mad at him for not showing up until that moment but she couldn't find a mad bone in herself at that very moment.

She'd swore she was okay, and that although she was happy, of course she was, it was not enough happy for her to start tearing up as she kind of wanted to do it.

She had needed him all day.

However, when Lucas stepped aside and the '_other_' most important man in her life pulled her into his arms...

Then she had lost it.

Up until that day, she hadn't seen her dad in some good five months. He supposedly wasn't able to make it in time for her birthday, yet there he was, he had make it after all...Lucas had brought him.

In that moment, she knew it. She simply loved that boy.

_I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars  
He sure knew what he was doing when he joined these two hearts._

Little tiffs came across their way as the high school years went by, but nothing was still ever enough to break them apart from one another.

His brother and best friend had gotten married and had a baby before they even graduated from high school; that had been quite a surprise but what was behind the '_surprise_' was what had mattered. They loved each other...

Even though nor Lucas, nor Peyton put it openly into words, as she held '_James Lucas Scott'_ for the first time and he saw the picture before him in awe, they both knew at that moment they wanted that too someday.

They wanted that too with each other.

They simply just weren't ones to rush their fate.

_I hold everything when I hold you in my arms  
I've got all I'll ever need.  
Thanks to the keeper of the stars_

College went by and they got through it together. She went for an art and business degree, and he for an English literature one. Their summers where spent at Tree Hill with Lucas' mom and '_new dad'_ Keith. They've gotten married a few months after they welcomed their newest little girl, Lilly.

Lucas and Peyton had left already for college at the time, but they had of course come back for the wedding and to celebrate those two star-cross'd lovers love. It had been beautiful and although they didn't need it, it had reminded them of just how big love could be.

Peyton opened an art gallery back in Tree Hill, and Lucas started a writing career besides also couching his former high school basketball team.

Twenty-Three hit them both and by the time, they had been living together, chasing their dreams _together_, for a bit more than ten years; that without even counting the few years they spent as just _'friends'_.

He didn't propose because that was what was next in his '_to-do'_ list. He didn't do it because proposing was what supposedly came next; he'd gotten the girl, he'd dated the girl, he'd made of that girl his '_girlfriend_'...What allegedly came next was the big proposal, right? But he didn't do it because he '_had to'_. He did so because his heart was aching to make that curly little girl his wife; his and no one else's.

He wanted to tell her, and screamed to the world that she was the one for him and _always_ would be.

_It's what I want to do.  
They say I'm wrapped around your finger  
But they don't understand  
that what we got is more than just a diamond on your hand..._

_Baby... it's a love thing._

"If it is not a big deal, then what is it?" Peyton asked him from her dresser with the goofiest of pouts on her face.

"A little deal," Lucas settled with a smirk that so made her roll her eyes. "I like the black one the better," He added attempting to change the subject to something other than the '_where_' he was taking her tonight.

She offered him a small smile before she turned around rapidly to face the mirror with the two dresses in her hands. "I think I like the black one too the most," She merely squealed before dropping the red dress to the floor, and running towards the bathroom taking the black one with her. "I love you," She called up before closing the door behind her and he chuckled.

A shooting had to happen for him to realize that every single little moment with her mattered and that he didn't want to spend another minute of their lives not saying what was in his heart.

He had learned that day that more than anything else, he wanted to tell Peyton he loved her.

"_I__ lost __Peyton"_

Those were the three words that had scared him the most in his whole life. For some running into a school while a shooter is inside is insane, but for him it wasn't.

Of course not.

He couldn't leave her alone; he couldn't be left alone by her. He needed to save her just the same way as she had saved him from his ordinary life when they were only little kids.

He'd found her by the library, crying and maybe as scared as he was.

She was bleeding, she had been shot, and in that moment, _everything_ that matter for him was taking her out of that place.

He _needed_ her to be okay.

She'd cried, and asked him pleadingly not to leave her. He'd promised he wasn't going anywhere, that nothing was going to happen to her, but in that same moment, _everything _happened to him.

She seemed tired, and her normal pinky cheeks were scary pale, he sure as hell was scared to death for her, but then it was when she said it.

She'd told him not to freaked out, he'd said a quiet '_okay_', and then she simply leaned in whispering '_I__ love __you'_ so softly, before she gave him the most important, and meaningful kiss the two of them had ever shared.

He didn't think at that moment, he simply kissed her back with tears in his eyes, and made the kiss deeper. She pulled apart a few moments later and then it was when he breathed it back.

Were four words '_I__ love you, __too'_, yet for him, in that moment those words meant a silent plea, begging her please not to die.

_If tomorrow never comes  
Will she know how much I loved her?  
Did I try in every way to show her every day that she's my only one?_

She didn't die, she couldn't die, and ever since that evening, he'd probably told her '_I__ love __you'_ a couple zillion times. He simply wouldn't forgive himself if she ever forgot that.

"_Don't__ you ever do that to me __again_," He ordered against her temple mere seconds after she'd woken up in the hospital room. He'd kissed her in all possible spots of her body, he'd breathed her in time and time again, and made her swear she would never scare him that much again.

She'd said '_I promise'_ with one of those little smiles he'd always loved.

He then had said '_I__ love __you_' one more time before strongly taking her lips on his.

He really did love her.

_I'm not trying to come on like some rhinestone Romeo  
I'm looking for a whole lot more than a one night rodeo  
What can I do to prove to you, I'm a laying it on the line  
I'll even get down on my knees...Just to beg you one more time_

"I love you, too," He sang after her when her bathroom door was well closed.

He didn't see her but he was sure as hell she was smiling inside that room.

In any case, between smiles and '_I__ love __yous'_, it took them a bit more than a couple of hours to leave their house. He'd locked her safely in the front seat of his car with a black blindfold covering her eyes. She'd growled, she'd complained, but she'd obliged with a smile.

Of course she had.

They reached the beach a little past seven, they were supposed to be there at six-fifteen, but he didn't care; his girl needed time.

He walked her out of the car still with the blindfold in her eyes but although it was dark, he could clearly see that silly smile tugging in her lips.

He knew he was probably the only person that could make Peyton Sawyer enjoy surprises so he felt proud.

She trusted in him. That was the one truth that mattered to him at the moment.

Well that, and the fact that he loved her...Of course.

"You're ready?" He asked softly into her ear. She shivered a little at his voice…he felt proud about that too.

She whirled around in his arms biting slightly her lower lip. "Ready," She whispered rather mischievously before he took the blindfold off her eyes and turned her again so that she was seeing her surprise.

Little did she know that was only the beginning.

"Lucas Scott this is beautiful," She breathed with one of the biggest smiles he'd ever seen on her face.

"You like it?" He asked rather softly resting his chin on her shoulder as she kept looking in awe what he'd done for her. In the one-lighted spot of the beach he had –_well, him, and Haley, and Nathan, and Brooke a little too of course_– set up a picnic for two; champagne, and a few plates were scattered tidily in a cover over the sand.

She didn't reply but started walking down the trail of tea-lights he'd so carefully set up. There were no roses, he'd thought red roses were maybe a little too cliché, yet when he found himself buying over one hundred candles he knew she'd call him a dork whether there were red roses or not.

"It's beautiful," She repeated turning around on her spot so that she was facing him. "What's gotten into you Lucas Scott?" She asked jokingly as he walked closer to her and wrapped his arm strongly around her waist pulling her closer to his body.

She giggled as he took her but in any case didn't hesitate one second in resting her head over his chest. "I love it," She said quietly as if the look on her face didn't just let him know how much she'd actually liked his surprise.

They sat together for a little while drinking one glass of champagne before he suggested for them to have a "_little __walk_" before actually dine.

She'd agreed.

She was snuggled in his arms as he walked her dropping kisses over her head every too often. "So remember my book?" He asked quietly into the air. She'd been literally nagging him since the very moment he told her he had a novel he had been working on for quite a while now. She'd _demanded_ him to let her read it but he'd said _no_. She'd asked him '_pretty please'_ to read it but he'd said a painful _no_. She'd pouted, she'd begged, she'd tried to read it without him knowing but nothing she'd tried give her success.

Not until tonight that is.

However, as to be expected she didn't reply, or well...she didn't say the words, she nodded against his chest. Her eyes were closed and he had the perfect of glances over her face. "You wanna know why I haven't let you read it yet?" He asked once again, she smiled playfully and nodded again not caring one bit in opening her eyes.

"It's because I needed something first before I could finish it," He explained tucking one unruly curl behind her ear.

Peyton thought for a few seconds but then whispered a soft "What's that?"

"An answer," He said simply with a shrug before stopping their walking, and pushing away from her just a bit. Her eyes were slightly narrowed but the smile on her face hadn't faded the smallest of bits.

He wordlessly turned her around in his arms and in that second she completely forgot of everything and everyone else in the world.

She turned to see the words "_Will__ you marry __me_?" glowing in the dark. He'd placed what seemed to be at least a thousand candles reading the one question she hadn't seen coming tonight.

"Will you?" He asked so quietly, and his voice carried such hope as he actually thought she wasn't going to say '_Yes_'.

_I still believe the words we said  
forever will ring true_

She had turned around to see at his eyes with hers full of tears, it would have broken his heart at any other time but he was positive her tears weren't sad ones, they were the total opposite if he could say so himself.

"Yeah," She said softy and with a small shrug of her shoulders.

_Love is certain, love is kind  
Love is yours and love is mine_

It took her longer to say the words than for him to wrap her tightly in his arms, and started twirling her around as she giggled.

A few seconds after he put her back down on the floor, he'd started pulling out of his pocked the small black box. Out of the corner of her watery eyes, she saw all her friends walking over to the spot the two of them where, she'd smiled even wider at the sight but still couldn't find in herself to care of anyone other than that broody boy before her eyes.

_But it isn't something that we find  
It's something that we do_

They got married before everyone who mattered, and in the very same spot he'd proposed. He'd told her that if it hadn't been for that evening he found her there they wouldn't be marrying.

She'd smiled and kissed him fondly as she told him a giddily '_No'_. He'd squinted at her words, and she'd say then that even if they hadn't talked that evening by the beach they would still be marrying. She'd say how she was sure they would have found their ways to one another anyway.

He'd replaced his squint for a smile and one strong nod.

Then they'd kissed.

_And it's not about the same last name  
It's not a thing that can be explained  
It's how you make me feel inside  
And the way you hold me every night_

He'd wrote his vows –_not shocking really, he was a writer after all_– and she'd wrote hers –_that had been a little bit more shocking but nonetheless hers had been nothing less beautiful than __Lucas' were_– Her father had walked her down the aisle, and Lucas had been tidily waiting for her next to a preacher.

She'd said _'I do'_ with a glowing smile on her face, and so had he.

Of course they had.

_Love is wide, love is long  
Love is deep and love is strong  
Love is why I love this song  
And I hope you love it too_

She'd come home from her gallery one evening, he'd been in their bedroom writing, and heard her come inside the house.

She didn't walk into the bedroom as she always did though; he had worried.

Just a little bit though, but who could blame him? _He_ was her husband; he _had_ to take care of her.

He'd stepped outside their bedroom and found her pacing outside on the hallway.

He'd leaned against the wall and watched her with a smirk on his face.

He loved the way she was biting oh-so nervously her bottom lip.

She'd jumped a little when she saw him standing there but in just mere seconds, she had sent in his direction the cutest of smiles before she ran and buried herself in his big arms.

He had chuckled a little but he hadn't got any response from her. Any other day she would have probably glared at him for '_making__ fun of __her'_, but this time around, she hadn't.

Not even playfully.

She had remained silent toying with his shirt.

He had matched her silence for a few minutes, somehow rocking her back and forth slowly in his arms.

For some reason he simply knew that was what she needed.

_Love is holding tight... letting go  
It's flying high and laying low_

"Don't freak out, okay?" She'd warned in something above a whisper from his chest. He'd nodded and said a quiet '_okay'_.

_Let your strongest feelings show  
And your weakness, too_

She then had pulled away from his arms, and she'd had tears on her eyes. His prior smirk fell into a soft smile. She was scared and he could read that as if he was reading an open book.

After a few more moments of stare at him with teary eyes, she'd twisted her lips goofily, before letting one, and one tear only fell down to her flushed cheek.

She then had breathed a coy "I kinda think you are going to be a Daddy, Luke."

Then she'd actually smiled at him before letting out a good bunch of watery chuckles as his arms pulled her up of the floor.

He'd been okay with the idea.

_It's a little and a lot to ask  
An endless and a welcome task_

He'd actually been more than okay with the idea. And of course, so had she.

They welcomed their little girl just a few months later, she was in fact little, every spot of her teeny body was wrinkled and he simply loved her.

Her eyes were huge and green as her mother's though his little girl's were just a bit more lighter than Peyton's...He thought maybe it was because she didn't have any burdens or sadness to carry yet.

He'd swear to himself that they'd stay that way. From the moment he first saw into those beautiful eyes he'd swore he would never let her carry no thing...he'd never let anyone make her sad or cry, she was _his _daughter and he was going to make her happy.

Just like her mom had made him.

_Love isn't something that we have  
It's something that we do_

She would stare at their baby daughter as she slept more often than not. He would feel her standing up from the bed and walking straight into the nursery. He loved that, he loved her for that because she always did the same thing.

She'd stood by her crib and sent little smiles at their sleeping baby girl.

They named her '_Sophie_'; Sophie Scott that was and it simply fitted her little personality.

He'd choose the name but she'd love it anyway. He'd say she would name their second girl even before Sophie was even born, but she ultimately had. '_Emily_' was the name she chose and he'd loved it.

It had fitted.

_I know the time will disappear  
But this love we're building on will always be here  
No way that this is sinking sand  
On this solid rock we'll stand forever_

"I love you," She'd breathed softly into the air when the lights were already off, and '_goodnights_' had already been said.

_He_ had smiled then.

It had taken him enough to understand the feeling but in the end, he had. Even when he didn't knew what the word '_Love_' was, in a way he already knew how it felt and what it meant.

It meant just seeing her, it meant wanting her to be happy, it meant not wanting to ever let go of her, it meant being there for her at every second of every day, it meant being a better man because that was what _she_ deserved, it meant steal only to see her smile, it meant having her lying over his body and wonder what the heck was his life before she was there...

_In my world before you  
I lived outside my emotions  
Didn't know where I was going  
Until that day I found you  
How you opened my life to a new paradise_

It meant stop breathing when he was firmly looking into her eyes, it meant hate every single sad tear she'd ever shed, it meant building dreams together, it meant loving someone from the depths of his soul, it meant never giving up, it meant never stop loving, it meant simply be there...

It meant giving a little girl a cookie so she wouldn't be sad anymore.

"I love you, too."

_I've waited so long to say this to you  
So, if you're asking if I love you this much, I do_

_...I do_

_Fin_

* * *

**AN : **What did you think? Too cheesy? I must say still that I did enjoy writing it **so** much. I miss LP, you know? Please let me know what you think **:)**

**PS** : I'm really not that big of a Country fan, _yet_, I found this site with like all the best songs, and the lyrics were simply perfect for what I needed for this story. Are...I don't even know how many songs I used here, but are quite a ton. If you like the name of any of them just quote the line and I'll give you the name :)

Thanks so much for reading **:)**


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